Crawford forum to examine systems under strain

The nation's leading public policy conference which brings together experts from politics, government, business and academia, begins at The Australian National University (ANU) on Sunday.

The 2016 Crawford Australian Leadership Forum will focus on the challenges facing Australian policymakers and business leaders as they respond to the interlinked changes in the economic, social, geopolitical and natural systems.

In its third year, the Forum brings together 150 of Australia's top leaders - 50 each from business, the public sector and politics, and the research and advocacy community, to address major public policy issues confronting Australian policy makers.

"Australia is not alone in facing ever more intense geopolitical, economic and social policy challenges, but finding it difficult to build the political and community consensus necessary to confront them effectively," said Forum chair and ANU Chancellor Professor Gareth Evans AC QC.

ANU Vice-Chancellor and Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Schmidt AC will open the conference with a keynote address on Sunday evening at the National Gallery of Australia.

Former World Bank President and US Trade Representative Bob Zoellick will appear via video link during the Monday opening session on capitalism, employment and the future, and the Tuesday plenary session on China and the United States.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen are among the politicians taking part in the forum.

Other participants will include Secretaries of the Departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet Martin Parkinson and Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Varghese, ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie, and former ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel AC.

International dignitaries to attend the Forum include: former Indonesian Finance Minister Muhamad Chatib Basri and current Vice Presidential Adviser Dewi Fortuna Anwar; former Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon; Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore; and former Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia.